Sex: The Detroit Zoo is home to three giraffes: A 4-year-old male named Jabari; and two females, Chardo, 27, and Kivuli, 3.

Type: Mammal

Home: Open grasslands of the African savanna.

Diet: Herbivore. Giraffes are the tallest land animals in the world and browse on leaves high in trees where other animals cannot reach. Acacia tree leaves are a favorite in the wild. At the Detroit Zoo’s Giraffe Encounter, where the public can feed giraffes from an elevated platform, giraffes munch on mulberry, grapevine and maple leaves. Giraffes have a stomach with four compartments and, like cows, regurgitate food and chew it like cud. An individual can eat up to 75 pounds of leaves per day.

Birth: Female giraffes give birth standing up and the young start their journey into the world with up to a five-foot drop to the ground. Babies can stand in only a half hour and can run in 10 hours. Females bear the sole responsibility in raising the young.

Now you know: No two giraffes have the same spotted coat, although individuals from the same area have similar markings. Giraffes have long legs that are taller than most humans, which enables them to run at speeds up to 35 mph. Their long legs are a disadvantage when they need to drink, requiring them to spread their legs wide and bend down to reach the water hole. That makes them vulnerable to attack from predators, but they only have to drink once every few days, since they get most of their moisture from the leaves they eat. Both male and female camels have hair-covered bony bumps (ossicones) on their heads, that are part of the skull.

Protection status: Some subspecies classified as endangered.

Detroit Zoo information: 248-541-5717, www.detroitzoo.org.

Editor’s note: Animals of the Zoo is a weekly series. Next: Prairie dogs.